Part 18 (1/2)

For several hours the fight continued with a bitterness that had not been paralleled before in the whole course of the war. Again and again the enemy attacked, only to be beaten back before the stonewall defense.

But the Americans were not satisfied with merely defending their position. About two hours after noon they organized a counterattack.

With splendid vim and ardor, and in a das.h.i.+ng charge, they smashed the division confronting them, driving them back in confusion and bringing hundreds of prisoners back with them to the trenches.

”I guess that will hold them for a while,” crowed Billy, as they rested for a few minutes after their return.

”We certainly slashed them good and plenty,” exulted Frank, as he washed up a scratched shoulder that had been struck by a splinter of shrapnel.

”If the rest of the line is holding as well as our fellows, the drive will be ended almost as soon as it began,” remarked Bart.

”And Heinie was going to walk all over us, was he?” grinned Billy.

”He's got another guess coming.”

But their amazement was great a few minutes later when the order came for the regiment to fall back.

”Fall back!” howled Billy when he heard the order. ”What is this, a joke?”

”Why should we fall back, when we've just licked the tar out of the Heinies?” growled Bart.

”Orders are orders,” said Frank briefly. ”I suppose our commanders know what they're doing. But it certainly is tough luck.”

Their officers no doubt felt an equal chagrin, but the need was imperative. The Germans had struck along a front of fifty miles. At many points they had encountered a resistance as fierce and determined as that put up by the old Thirty-seventh and its companion regiments of the same division.

But at others they had been more successful. They had introduced a new kind of tactics that had never been used before on the western front, although it had been employed successfully in Russia. These were the so-called Von Hutier tactics whereby, when a division was used up, instead of falling back it simply opened up and let a fresh division pa.s.s through and take up the burden.

The old plan had been to clear up everything as one went along. The idea of the new tactics was to press swiftly ahead even if they left behind them machine-gun nests and strong enemy positions. These could be cleaned up later one by one, while in front the swift advance was intended to demoralize the opposing army and throw it out of formation by the very speed of the progress.

The plan, like every other, had its weak points. It involved a very heavy loss of men because of the ma.s.ses in which they moved forward, and it also exposed its flank by penetrating too rapidly into the host lines before the artillery could be brought up for support. But if successful, it was almost sure to break the enemy's line and throw it into confusion.

Later on the Allies were to learn how they might most easily frustrate these tactics. But at the start of the great drive the plan met with considerable success because of its novelty.

It was this that had brought the command to retreat. The British forces on the right wing of the Allied armies had been forced to give way. The line had not been broken, but it had been badly bent. The British retreated doggedly, fighting with the splendid heroism that was in accordance with their traditions, and at no time did the retreat become a rout. But in order to keep the line straight the American forces too were ordered to fall back, even though they had been successful on their section of the line.

”It's a shame!” growled Billy, as the retirement began. ”It makes me sore to have those Heinies think they've got us going.”

”We'll come back,” said Frank cheerfully. ”It's a good general that knows when to retreat as well as to advance. We're only going to get s.p.a.ce enough to crouch for a spring.”

The division withdrew in good order, keeping up a rear-guard action that kept the enemy at a respectful distance. When night fell the Americans had reached the position a.s.signed to them, and the backward movement was halted. The troops entrenched, and with the Allied line straightened out once more, faced the foe that it had decisively defeated earlier in the day.

”Nothing to do till tomorrow,” exclaimed Frank as he threw himself on the ground.

”Don't fool yourself that way,” said Corporal Wilson, who had just come up and heard the remark. ”Unless I lose my guess you've got something to do tonight. Didn't you tell me the other day that you understood how to handle a motorcycle?”

”Why, yes,” said Frank. ”I've ridden one a good deal. I won a race on Camport Fair Grounds a couple of years ago.”

”Then you're just the man the general wants to see,” replied Wilson.

”He sent a message to the colonel asking for the services of a man who was cool and plucky, and who could also ride a motorcycle. I don't know of any one else who can fill the bill better than you.”

”I'll be glad to do whatever's wanted of me,” replied Frank, and with a word of farewell to his comrades he accompanied the corporal to headquarters.